Turning down the demand of local contractors from Rengma and Lotha communities for breaking up the work on the NH-61 into piece meal, the department of PWD R&B expressed its inability to meet their demand but asked them to go in group as syndicate and bid for the contract work.Speaking to this correspondent on the sidelines of the inaugural function of the 7-day training for state PWD engineer on DPR preparation and quality control on Monday, engineer in chief Er. Dr.Vikuotuolie Angami said the tender for two lanning and black topping work on NH-61 was opened on August 20 last and will close on August 30 next and that the local contractors can go in group as syndicate and bid for the work. The tender paper for both the commercial bid and financial bid would not be open from here in the state but taken to Delhi where the financial bid would be opened and decide the commercial bid. The engineer-in-chief said since it was a union ministry programme, it was beyond the power of the state or the department to alter the anything. He said that the ministry of road transport and highway has earlier floated a tender for contract work worth Rs 75 crore for two laning and blacktopping of 32.4 Km of road on the NH-61.On the contention of the agitating government registered class-I contractors from Rengma and Lotha communities that breaking up the job into piecemeal to accommodate the local contractors was practiced earlier on the same NH-61, Dr. Vikuotuolie said that in the past, the DPR was prepared by the department in block wise. Now the DPR was prepared by SMEC consultancy firm which had recommended to the ministry the clubbing of the job and sanction was made in bulk. The engineer-in-chief also said that he had urged the ministry official to make the work into block wise of 10 Km, however, the same was flatly rejected. He expressed apprehension that if the people of the state sticked to their demand, the fund earmarked for the work could go to other state. NH-61 with a stretch of 240 Km and connecting Kohima to Jhanji was declared in 1999. As per the 1956 National Highway Act, no one can stop construction of National Highway in any court except for compensation. Moreover, the state government had signed the State Support Agreement with the Government of India to see that there was no obstruction on the development of the National Highway.